Agents: The Path not Taken
by Stormhawk
Summary: An AU version of Agents. What would have happened if Morpheus & co hadn't abandoned Stef straight away.


Title: The Path not taken  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: This all belongs to The W Brothers and Warner Brothers. And the Agents, don't forget the agents.  
  
Notes: My dear readers forgive me - I have writer's block. I'm working on another Agents stories but I'm stuck so I wrote this.  
  
Word Count: 1637  
  
Summary: An AU version of Agents. What would have happened if Morpheus & co hadn't abandoned Stef.  
  
Please Read and Review.  
  
'Hello Stephanie. I am Morpheus.' Morpheus said as he motioned for her to sit.  
  
'It's an honor to meet you and everyone calls me Stef.'  
  
'Fine, Stef it is.'  
  
'What's this all about? Trinity didn't explain much to me.'  
  
Morpheus said his little speech. 'You have the choice now Stef. Take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Take the blue pill and wake up believing whatever you want.'  
  
Stef's hand hovered at her side. She was utterly intrigued at what he was saying but at some level she was also worried, unsure of what going further could mean. If she didn't like what happened, she could always leave.  
  
As she picked up the red pill as the door burst in. Stef looked behind and saw the man who had been guarding the door dead. A man in a suit carrying a gun entered.  
  
'Stef, come on!' Morpheus yelled as he pulled her into the next room. Half the people who had been in the room had jumped out the window.  
  
'Trinity!' Trinity turned and took Stef's hand as Morpheus jumped out.  
  
'What is.' Stef started as the man in the suit closed in on them.  
  
'Trust me,' Trinity said as she pulled her out the window with her. To Stef's amazement they landed unhurt. Before she could inquire about what the hell was going on she was being pulled down the street.  
  
Ahead of them Morpheus was shouting into a cell phone. Behind them the man in the suit landed on the concrete and Stef heard it snap.  
  
'What is going on?' she screamed. Hopefully this was some kind of bad dream.  
  
'Just run!' Trinity said as they ran. Trinity ran faster than Stef but Stef wasn't slow so she kept pretty good pace.  
  
She kept pace until a brick wall blocked her way. Stef took a step back and looked at the magically appearing brick wall.  
  
'Stef!' she heard Trinity call. The other rebels stopped running but when they heard the shot they ran for the nearest exit.  
  
Stef fell to her knees shaking, if the shot had been two inches to the left it would have taken her head off.  
  
'Please - I didn't do anything.' She couldn't understand why he wanted to kill her, she didn't even jaywalk if it could be helped.  
  
'You sided with the enemy.'  
  
'What are you talking about?'  
  
'You know too much.'  
  
'I don't know anything.' She looked up at him, the gun was trained right on her. 'I don't want to die. Please don't kill me. I don't know anything.'  
  
'We shall see.' He put his gun away.  
  
'Thank you.' She said as her lower lip trembled.  
  
'Pathetic human,' Smith said as he reached down and yanked her to her feet by her hair.  
  
'Human?' she asked as she tried to pry his hand from her hair. He cuffed her with a pair of handcuffs that appeared from nowhere and led her to a car that also came from thin air.  
  
Stef was quite sure she was in some really weird, possibly sugar induced, dream. She often fell asleep in front of her computer. That had to be it, she reasoned. Just a dream, Stef just believe it's a dream.  
  
He shoved her into the back seat and closed the door. It was a completely silent twenty minute journey to a nondescript government building.  
  
He opened the door and Stef stepped out. She tried to calm herself, surely he wouldn't murder her if there were witnesses. She lived in silent hope that he would realize that he had made a mistake and let her go.  
  
One thing Stef had decided was to throw out her computer the minute she got home. This was all it's fault, Trinity and Morpheus had contacted her through her web site.  
  
Damn her addiction to the Internet, people had always warned her that it was dangerous.  
  
She was grateful he didn't haul her along by her hair. He laid a hand on her shoulder with such a tight grip that she was sure that her bones were going to break.  
  
He led her to a room with two other men that looked remarkable like him.  
  
'One of Morpheus' recruits.' The other two nodded. 'She says she doesn't know anything but she should be questioned nonetheless.'  
  
'Let O'Connor do it. He says he has a new way of extracting information to try.' Smith nodded and took Stef down to a cell.  
  
Stef sat on the bunk, wondering who O'Connor was what he was going to do to her. The door to the cell bay opened, Stef shrunk back to the end of the cell. A guy her age walked down and opened the cell door.  
  
'Who are you?' she asked.  
  
'Curt O'Connor.' He took a white ear piece from his ear. 'Don't worry I won't hurt you.'  
  
'What is going on?'  
  
'Let me guess, Morpheus was talking to you then Smith found you.'  
  
'Basically.'  
  
'I'm sorry, shit like this happens all the time. You're lucky to still be alive.'  
  
'I gathered that.'  
  
'I don't know if there's anything I can do for you. I can't blow my cover.'  
  
'What cover?'  
  
'I work for Morpheus. If there was time I would explain it all to you but there's not. You did the right thing.'  
  
'What's that supposed to mean?' She asked as he left the cell.  
  
'Don't tell them anything I just said. This is bigger than you and me, this is the whole world.'  
  
'What are you talking about? What is this all about?'  
  
'I can't tell you,' he said as he put his ear piece back in.  
  
Stef sat back on the bunk when the door to the cell bay locked. By the way he was talking she was going to die.  
  
She started to wonder if Morpheus and Trinity were some kind of cult leaders. Whatever this was it was all underground - some kind of secret war.  
  
The door to the cell block opened an hour later. Stef walked to the bars but shrunk back when she saw the guy - Smith Curt had called him - walked down toward her cell.  
  
'You're going to kill me aren't you?' Stef asked.  
  
No point in lying to her, Smith thought. 'Yes.'  
  
'Because I didn't know anything.'  
  
'Precisely and you will forgive me for the delay in getting to you. O'Connor took an inordinate amount of time telling us that you had no useful information.'  
  
'You're both on the same team aren't you?' Stef had to get the facts straight before playing her last hand.  
  
'Of course,' Smith said as he opened the cell door and drew his gun.  
  
'I know something now that I didn't know before. What's it worth?'  
  
'Given that the only new information that you could have gained access to is the dimensions of your cell, nothing.' He leveled the gun at her.  
  
'Don't pull that trigger.' Stef pleaded. 'Hear me out first.'  
  
'You have ten seconds,' the gun didn't move in the slightest.  
  
'Curt O'Connor is a traitor.'  
  
'Unlikely.'  
  
'Would I lie now of all times?'  
  
'If you thought it would prolong your life, yes.'  
  
'I am not lying. Don't you have a lie detector or something?'  
  
'If you insist, repeat your statement about O'Connor.'  
  
'Curt O'Connor is a traitor.' Stef looked around. 'What are you a human lie detector?'  
  
Smith waited for the mainframe's response. 'You aren't lying.'  
  
'Told you, are you going to let me live?'  
  
He didn't say anything. Stef had one more card to play though she wasn't sure what it was worth.  
  
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the red pill, she held it between her thumb and forefinger.  
  
'What's this worth?' She saw him falter, it was then she knew she had something valuable in her hand.  
  
'Well?' she demanded.  
  
'Give it to me and we'll talk.' He reached out with his other hand for it. Stef balled her hand into a fist with the pill in the middle. She shook her head.  
  
'Put your gun away, and let me out. Then you get this.'  
  
'You seem to have forgotten who is in charge.'  
  
'I have nothing to lose, you want this or not?' Smith waited for orders from the mainframe.  
  
'Fine - you have your freedom. Give me the pill.'  
  
'Let me out first.' Smith stepped to the side and let Stef out. She shuddered as she passed right by the gun.  
  
'You're free.' She opened her fist and dropped the pill into his open palm.  
  
'Can I go now?' He nodded slowly. She backed away from him. 'How do I get out?'  
  
He pointed to the door to the cell block, 'that way.'  
  
She let out a nervous sigh, 'oh right.' She kept looking over her shoulder as she walked out of the cell block. Taking a step into freedom she let out a sigh of relief.  
  
Her relief died away as she walked into one of the other agents. Brown looked down at her. Stef tried to step around him before she felt something hit her back.  
  
It wasn't a bullet her groggy mind realized, just some kind of tranquilizer dart.  
  
She opened her eyes and she was home. She threw the covers off and looked around her dark room - could it have been a dream?  
  
Her computer was beeping at her. A chat window showed multiple messages from Trinity. Stef closed the window without looking at them.  
  
She sighed as she tried to discern what was real and what wasn't. She heard something behind her. She spun in her chair and saw Smith.  
  
'What the hell is going on? Who are you, who are they?'  
  
'Smith, Agent Smith and they are rebels. Would you like to know more?'  
  
The End.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Even I'll admit this - this isn't one of the better stories that I've written. As I said in the notes I have writer's block. But I did think it would be interesting to see what would have happened if Morpheus & co had tried to take Stef with them. 


End file.
